Wednesday, January 12, 2011

How iPad is Shifting Reading Times

This article looks at how new devices like the iPad are time shifting reading.

When a reader is given a choice about how to consume their content, a major shift in behavior occurs. They no longer consume the majority of their content during the day, on their computer. Instead they shift that content to prime time and onto a device better suited for consumption.

This doesn't address when readers read physical books or periodicals. Assuming that computer reading measurements don't include reading e-books or e-magazines, that leaves open the question of whether the increased late-in-the-day consumption is online reading shifted later, or a medium switch from physical to electronic text.

The publishing industry is in the same sea change that's already hit music and video, the shift from physical to electronic distribution. It may be sales numbers that tell us more about that shift in books and magazine reading than the type of measurement used in this article.